Some basic questions to get you started talking about books (with your kids!):
- What did you like about the book?
- What did you not like about the book?
- Who is your favorite character and why?
- Do you like the ending? Does it “work”?
- What’s the main point of the book? (this is really the “theme” but you don’t have to call it that)
- Is there anything in the book (characters, plot, theme) that you think demonstrates Biblical truth? (this can be VERY broad: kindness, beautiful creation, dignity/worth of human life, justice, mercy, consequences for sin, drugs/alcohol seen as less than exemplary, positive portrayals of marriage and/or gender, actual discussions in the book of such concepts as forgiveness/redemption/heart condition, ….).
- Is there anything in the book (characters, plot, theme) that you think violates Biblical truth? (again, VERY broad: injustice, setting up of self as absolute truth/standard, extra marital sex glorified, lack of redemption outside of self, no positive portrayal of marriage, gender called into question, unnecessary language/profanity, violence for the sake of violence, characters denigrated who exhibit such things as the Fruit of the Spirit, ….)
- Is there anything in the book that troubles you? (very broad again)
- Do you want to read more books like this (or by this author)? Why or why not?
- Anything else you can think of?
You don’t have to ask all of these, of course. But it’s worth noting that sometimes pointing out what a book does well can be just as, if not more, instructive than what a book portrays that’s “wrong.” I’ll try to offer some discussion points for the books I review. And, as I mentioned earlier, I’ll try to provide some more tools for teaching discernment.